Before humans, it is instruments that produce music. How wood and tuned strings come together in a guitar can be explained by science.
Author: Luna Kang
Editor: Chae Un Son
Over the ages, music has evolved to involve more than just the human voice. Among the thousands of different types of instruments there are now, the acoustic guitar is a popular pick among many for its hollow strum accustomed to covering songs of many different music genres. How exactly plucking strings leads to music, is a question to do with the very shape of the instrument.
Put frankly, it is the resonance(vibrations at the typical frequency of a given object) of the strings echoing through the body of the guitar that produces music notes. The body here would be the lower half of the guitar in which the strings run down; the other half of the guitar, the neck, is the part in which the strings start and where the finger placement happens. When the strings are pulled and thus made to vibrate, the resonance is transmitted from the top of the guitar to the saddle. When such sound waves meet the air in the body of the guitar(thus why an acoustic guitar is made hollow), the vibrations are sent down to the soundboard and the body, where the sound is amplified. Eventually, at the soundhole, the final sound is able to be heard.
Here, the entire process of movements of six strings becoming transmitted into sound happens as the kinetic energy(the energy of motion; observable in an object's movement) that the strings have becomes transmitted into the kinetic energy of the substance making up the guitar. The guitar’s large surface area plays a role in the transference of the kinetic energy through the air - the soundboard of the guitar vibrates the air particles around it and then compresses the sound frequencies so at the soundhole music is produced.
Further on, the unique tones of different guitars even have their roots in the very material of the guitar(its density and solidity especially) and the very design. For instance, the material and build of the acoustic guitar are what makes such guitars much heavier than electric guitars - it has as a requirement broadness and hollow wood. More than having strings and just the outward specifications should be viewed when picking out a guitar.
A guitar can be seen as a musical miracle carved out of wood and strings. Though there is more to this string instrument than the very basics of its construction, each unique guitar with a specific purpose has at their basis a calm strum that is open for all ears to appreciate. Above was the journey that such music goes through in order to go from vibrations to a concerto.
References:
How guitars work. Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. (2014, April 18). Retrieved June 29, 2022, from https://invention.si.edu/node/791/p/79-how-guitars-work
Leung, B. (2021, October 8). The physics of guitar. Medium. Retrieved June 29, 2022, from https://medium.com/intuition/the-physics-of-guitar-9abcdc4a1d4
Wolfe, J. (n.d.). How does a guitar work? Retrieved June 29, 2022, from https://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/guitarintro.html
The structure of the acoustic guitar: How a guitar makes sound. The Structure of the Acoustic Guitar：How a guitar makes sound - Musical Instrument Guide - Yamaha Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved July 5, 2022, from https://www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/acoustic_guitar/mechanism/
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